Analysis & Commentary
A Battle Plan to Stop Assad: Three Steps to Focus the Brutal Dictator’s Mind
Before Syrian President Bashar Assad's blood-soaked crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, Western capitals pampered the London-educated eye doctor with carrots rather than sticks.
A Mideastern View of the Fourth of July
Americans understand an intractable portion of the Islamic world opposes America and all she stands for. What many Americans do not know this Fourth of July weekend is how much Middle Easterners know about America’s ideals, values, and revolutionary principles of liberty. What viewers and audiences in the U.S. were not told is the magnitude of political and social change America is provoking in the region, even beyond the wildest imagination of those planners who said they were entering a “war of ideas” a few years ago.
A Real Syria Policy, Anyone?
Russia and China’s October 4 veto of a U.N. -Security Council resolution on Syria elicited a strong response from U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice.
Assad’s End
Congratulations to President Obama for finally calling on Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to step down. It was past time for the White House to break decisively with a regime that has been slaughtering its people for almost six months, with a death toll conservatively estimated at 2,000 and climbing.
Assad’s Noose Tightens
Kuwait’s turnaround may be the most significant since, as Tony Badran, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, explains, Assad and his cousin Rami Makhlouf have reached out to the Kuwaitis for financial assistance.
Bandar’s Return
As my friend Simon Henderson has been chronicling, "Bandar is back." Sidelined in recent years by some combination of illness and palace intrigue, Saudi Arabia's legendary former ambassador to Washington, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, is once again a major presence on the world stage.
Bush: The Authoritarian Regimes of the Arab World Will Fall
President George W. Bush predicted Tuesday that the remaining authoritarian regimes in North Africa and the Middle East are unsustainable and will give way to movements driven by the quest for freedom and human rights.
Defcon 3
How secure is Syrian leader Assad and is he the next Qaddafi?
Democracy Project Triumph: Islamists Surge Ahead in Egyptian Elections
It would be hard to overstate what a catastrophe the Egyptian elections are shaping into. Reports about stage one of the long process show not only that the Muslim Brotherhood may be getting over 50 percent of the vote
Egypt Might Postpone Elections Until November
“This will definitely come at the expense of the Brotherhood. This has been the wish of the liberal democrats in Egypt since the first day after the fall of Mubarak,” said Jonathan Schanzer, vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Egypt’s Army is Failing to Build Consensus for Democracy
The death of longtime Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi is shaking the Arab world. And nations like Egypt, which next month holds its first parliamentary elections since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak in February, are watching.
Egypt’s Military Must Step Aside
With only days left before Egyptians are to vote in their first elections since the fall of Hosni Mubarak, thousands of protesters spanning every political ideology, from secular to Islamist, have taken to the streets to pressure the military into relaxing its grip on power.
Egypt’s Next Big Moment
With only days left before Egyptians are expected to vote in their first elections since the fall of president Hosni Mubarak, thousands of people have taken to the streets to pressure the military to relax its grip on power.
Egypt’s Uncertain Vote
A number of experts, such as Leila Hilal and Khaled Elgindy, say that removing the military (FP) from transitional political process will help with stability.
Egyptian Liberals Against the Revolution
Sitting in a Pizza Hut just a block from Cairo’s Tahrir Square, Mina Rezkalla can’t stop telling me how much he loves Seinfeld. This is strange not least because Egypt is one of the most anti-Semitic countries in the world and Jerry Seinfeld’s eponymous television series is an exemplar of American Jewish humor.
Fox News.com Live
Syria under new pressure for its brutal crackdown of anti-government protesters.
Fox News.com Live
Were Egypt's parliamentary elections successful?
Freedom Betrayed
This is the Age of the Second Democratic Revolution. Inspired by the values of the American Revolution, supported and advanced by American military power and a remarkable generation of democratic leaders, the revolution has swept the world.
From Democracy to Sharia
A few weeks ago, amid the “Arab Spring” giddiness, a Shiite mosque opened in Cairo. This was big news. Among Egypt’s 80 million people, there are only a few thousand Shiites.
From Tehran to Tahrir Square: Is Freedom Really Sweeping the Middle East?
At the start of the Arab Spring in early 2011, Western nations around the world held their breath and hoped that the chaotic uprisings on the streets of Egypt and neighbouring countries would herald democracy in the Middle East. It’s been a year since the movement began and much has changed – or has it? Real and robust democracy has a long way to go before becoming commonplace in the Middle East. What is really happening behind the scenes and away from the news cameras? And how can the West help this transition?
